Should Cameron Poe Have Even Been Aboard “Con Air?”

[Gimpdiggity]

Let me start by saying that I enjoy this film. It’s fun. It’s ridiculous. It’s entertaining.

That said...I’ve always kinda thought Poe shouldn’t have ever even been in prison in the first place.

The facts:

Poe gets bothered inside the bar by three idiots, in front of numerous witnesses.

Poe is basically in his car ready to leave when the three idiots appear and start bothering him again.

Poe steps away from his vehicle and is assaulted.

Poe defends himself.

One of the idiots pulls a knife. Poe proceeds to bash this guy in the face, killing him with that blow.

We then are shown a scene where someone...an attorney?...is suggesting Poe plead guilty. He tells Poe he could serve ten years, but if he admits to it he gets four.

Poe is then sentenced to 7-10 years because the judge deems him a deadly weapon that is not subjected to the same laws as other people that are provoked because he can respond with deadly force.

This. Is. Absurd.

Even if one argues that Poe should have just gotten in his car and drove away, this does not change the fact that after the fight started, a knife was produced. This changes the context of the altercation significantly.

I feel there’s no way that any attorney would have recommended a plea deal here. In fact, I feel there’s no way a prosecutor would even pursue charges.

Obviously, we needed Poe to end up in prison so that the movie can exist...but I feel like there could have been better ways to accomplish this. Even if he’s been falsely accused of a crime, they then could have used “new evidence” to overturn the conviction, and you still end up with him in the same situation.

So...what does everyone think? Did Poe get railroaded here?

 

[batguy]

Poe's legal problems were more than the violent altercation. He was also looking at a class-B felony for bad hair. And he still had the hair after the sentencing so he obviously didn't take that one to trial.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

Poe's legal problems were more than the violent altercation. He was also looking at a class-B felony for bad hair. And he still had the hair after the sentencing so he obviously didn't take that one to trial.

Before the trial he had a fairly typical men’s haircut, though.

He grew that amazing mane while he was in prison...so his hair crimes are also something that should never have occurred.

 

[CB2001]

I think part of what lead to him ending up in jail was past altercations in general. When the guys messed with him in the bar, he had a look like he was about to give them hell then and there, which his wife (after calming him down) pointed out. This idicates that he has had a past where he's had a hair trigger that's probably landed him jail a couple of times, and even after serving in the army, it is still there. There's a good chance that he might have gone to Defcon 1 in the past over a perceived slight.

The thing that's confusing to me is that he got stabbed by one of the assailants, which would have indicated that there had been a knife present and indicate self-defense. A wound like that would have resulted in him being taken to the ER, patched up and documented by police before he was taken to jail. Yet, they say there's no evidence that backs up the claim of self-defense? Do the lawyers just believe that knife wound just magically appeared out of nowhere?

 

[yaris]

How long is a piece of string....?

You do know it's a movie right.....??

My favorite part is that Cameron Poe IS actually Poe Dameron.

How is that possible..?....It's called the multiverse.